Three former Michigan State quarterbacks started in the NFL on Sunday. The current Michigan State starting quarterback seems in no hurry to join them.
Kirk Cousins (Washington Redskins), Brian Hoyer (Cleveland Browns) and Drew Stanton (Arizona Cardinals) are the former Spartans who started Sunday, and current Spartans starter Connor Cook (6-foot-4, 218 pounds), a junior, already has the attention of NFL scouts. NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks had Cook No. 6 on his preseason list of quarterbacks to watch, writing that Cook has "the pocket-passing skills and arm strength to thrive in an offense that places the burden on the quarterback to create plays in the passing game."
Cook was asked about potentially turning pro after Saturday's 73-14 rout of Eastern Michigan.
"It's kind of crazy to think I'm in the situation I'm in now," Cook told mlive.com. "But, really, when the time comes, if I was good enough, we'll talk about it later."
Cook went into last season as the No. 2 quarterback but eventually earned the starting job over Andrew Maxwell.
"I was talking about this last night with a friend, (and) it's crazy to think people are even talking about me being able to play in the NFL, let alone first-round draft pick or whatever you want to say," Cook said Saturday.
Cook admitted that when he got to Michigan State, "I thought I'd be lucky to play. Watching Kirk play every single day as a freshman (in 2011) -- he's so accurate and perfect in everything he does, I was thinking I had so much work to do. And then Maxwell, when he was in front of me -- strong arm, accurate, very good at making decisions. And I looked at myself and I was like, 'I've got a lot of areas I need to improve on; I'll be lucky to even play here for a year.'"
Cook threw just five passes against vastly overmatched Eastern Michigan, but two of them went for scores. He has thrown for 711 yards and seven TDs through three games; he threw for 2,755 yards, 22 TDs and six interceptions last season. He has had three 300-yard games in his career, and all three have come in his past five outings.
Cook and the Spartans play their final non-conference game of the season this Saturday when they play host to Wyoming; the Cowboys have played solid pass defense thus far, but did surrender 293 passing yards to Oregon's Marcus Mariota.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
